Fascinating Article on Pau Gasol

[Quin]

In November 1991, at his Barcelona grade school, Gasol learned that one of his idols, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, had HIV. He remembers feeling flushed and wanting to be alone. Magic, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were all his heroes, and he was convinced he would now have to subtract one.

 

"I thought, 'He's going to die,'" Gasol says. "At that time, HIV … AIDS equaled death. I was wandering around school, just thinking about it, just wow. There was a lot of speculation on how you can catch it. You were afraid of sipping on somebody's bottle of Coke or eating off the same plate. Things like that or saliva. Is it transmitted by blood only? As an 11-year-old, it's a lot to take. It had an impact."

 

At home, he went looking for answers. His mother, Marisa, was a physician, and his father, Agusti, was a nurse, and he asked them if Johnson would be alive in the 21st century. They couldn't guarantee it.

 

He decided, at that very moment, to fix the problem. He decided, right then, to become a doctor.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/stor...=drgasol-100806

 

It's quite a good read.